Tap into my 30 amp Dryer outlet for an RV outlet???

dfoxhoven wrote:
To clarify...it is a double pole 30 amp breaker...and it leads to the outlet in the laundry room and the washer and dryer are both plugged into what appears to be a standard 15-20 amp grounded outlet.

double pole 30A is going to be a 240 circuit. Washer and dryer run off 120V. So, something is at least "strange". It could have been rewired at one time, with the 30A set up for a electric dryer and then either the 30A doesn't go to anything anymore, or someone used 1 leg of the 30A breaker to wire in a 120V 15/20A outlet.

Or the 30A circuit still leads to a 30A 240V dryer outlet somewhere in the laundry room. Even if you have a gas dryer I suspect code still requires the laundry room to have a 30A 240V outlet for the dryer.

The other possibility is that years ago what was occasionally done is to run two circuits (split phase) to each duplex outlet. at the outlet they would break out the tab between top and bottom and wire one leg to the top circuit, one to the bottom. that made the "duplex" outlet into two single circuit outlets, still only needed one ground and one neutral. worst case neutral current would be the breaker rating for the circuit, best case neutral had no current flowing. However if that was done the breaker should have been either a 15A or 20A, not 30A

Someone may have replaced the dryer with gas, looked at a way to get another 120V outlet, left the 30A breaker in place and replaced the 30A 240V dryer circuit with a split circuit 120, one circuit for the dryer, one for the washer. In that case the wire to the outlet should be #10. But it may not have a seperate ground and neutral, which is a no-no.

Every gas dryer we have ever had runs on 120V, needing no more than a 15A circuit. In fact, in our house the washer and gas dryer have run on a single 20A circuit for decades and decades, most often running both at the same time.

Unless you are very familiar with electric codes and wiring I'd have a qualified electrician take a look at the what you really have going on. You REALLY need to know EXACTLY what the current wiring situation is BEFORE proceeding.

To clarify...it is a double pole 30 amp breaker...and it leads to the outlet in the laundry room and the washer and dryer are both plugged into what appears to be a standard 15-20 amp grounded outlet.

GrandpaKip wrote:
Something is wrong with this picture.
30A breaker ending in a 15A outlet? If one of the slots is sideways, it is a 20A. Still not right and could be dangerous.
Is that a single or double pole breaker?
Was there once an electric dryer there?
As for now, just plug into a 15 or 20A outlet with a dogbone until you know what’s happening with that dryer outlet.

Yes I agree, the explanation doesn’t make sense. A natural gas dryer will use a 20A circuit. So if it looks like a standard outlet it is more than likely 110V 20A (possibly even 15). However there are some outlets that look like a standard 110 outlet that are actually 220. I think you need to do some more research on what you actually have.

Something is wrong with this picture.
30A breaker ending in a 15A outlet? If one of the slots is sideways, it is a 20A. Still not right and could be dangerous.
Is that a single or double pole breaker?
Was there once an electric dryer there?
As for now, just plug into a 15 or 20A outlet with a dogbone until you know what’s happening with that dryer outlet.

Perhaps you need to check your dryer breaker to see if the one in your panel is 30 double pole, and you have another individual breaker that feeds power to your gas dryer. The gas dryer requires a dedicated circuit, but it is 120 volts and should have a 15 or 20 amp single breaker.

In either case, the answer is no, you should not tap into that circuit.

dfoxhoven wrote:
The dryer outlet looks like any old 15-20 amp outlet as I understand that it is soley for running the motor as the heating comes from the natural gas. My question is....can I tap into this outlet and put a 30 amp RV outlet directly behind it on the outside wall to plug my RV into?

Yes you can. Doubt it meets code. Best to install a covered GFCI outlet for the RV. Use an adapter.

dfoxhoven wrote:
> Tap into my 30 amp Dryer outlet for an RV outlet???

If the outlet is 30 amp to power a dryer it will have 240v available and a NEMA 10-30 or 14-30 connector. This cannot be directly used for the 30 amp RV.

If the dryer is on a single pole, 30 amp, circuit breaker the answer is yes. (Inside the breaker panel the wiring from the plug should be 3 wires - hot, neutral and ground.)

Your 30 amp dryer outlet has two hots and a neutral, and uses the neutral as ground. To utilize it as a 30 amp RV outlet, it needs one hot, the neutral, and a separate ground.

I would just use your 20 amp outlet with an adapter.

Wait, on edit I see that your dryer outlet is a plain 15-20 amp outlet with a 30 amp breaker? That isn't right... What size is the branch wire?

A 20 amp circuit is fine for just charging the battery and running the fridge. I keep mine plugged into a 20 amp circuit all year long.

Considering your gas dryer also uses 120 volts for the "gas valve" (not referred to as an element) you may need some fine tuning on electrical circuits. The 30 amp outlet for your dryer is 240 consisting of two hot, and one ground wire where as your RV uses one hot, one ground and one neutral wire for 120 volts. It would be better to add one 30 amp 120 volt CB and the proper wire to an RV outlet and much safer it would be. The RV outlet polarity must be wired correct as well.

You can google RV outlet wiring schematics and if you are not sure, well?